


For His General

by valda



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, Poor Dopheld Mitaka, Trying to Break Up a Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 02:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10777119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: Dopheld Mitaka is a loyal officer of the First Order. Loyal to the cause and loyal to his general. And it's up to him to save General Hux from Kylo Ren.





	For His General

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hux_you_up](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hux_you_up/gifts).



> This is a gift for hux-you-up/eglantineprice, for no particular reason other than she's awesome and deserves it. I tried to include as many of her favorite kylux tropes as I could.

Doph waited to struggle to his feet until the clanging echo of Kylo Ren’s boots had completely faded away. Then he rose, breath coming in rasps. As he gingerly inspected his bruised throat with gloved fingers, he permitted himself a scowl that he would never risk in the company of his fellow officers.

It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t right that this monstrous being, simultaneously outside the chain of command and part of it, stalked the _Finalizer_ in his hideous, ragged black robes. It wasn’t right that he could destroy precious equipment with impunity, waste stormtroopers on mystical quests benefiting only himself, and choke officers (like Doph. Mostly Doph) to the point of unconsciousness upon receiving upsetting news. Kylo Ren simply did not belong in the First Order. He was the antithesis of order. Everything about him was wrong.

The most galling thing was that until recently, General Hux had agreed.

General Hux was everything Kylo Ren was not, and more. A paragon of order, standing tall and proud and strong over the _Finalizer_ and Starkiller, Hux commanded the respect of every soldier in the Unknown Regions. He epitomized everything the Order stood for: discipline, respect, and fierce beauty. He was the promise the Order made to the galaxy. _This is what we can give you. With us, this is what you can be._

But Kylo Ren corrupted everything he touched. And of late he’d taken to touching General Hux.

Doph still didn’t understand how it had happened. Through some dark sorcery, Kylo Ren had captured General Hux’s romantic affections. Doph had never seen the monster without his helmet, but surely whatever lay within was just as disgusting as what was without. Doph hated to think of his general dirtying his fingers in whatever oily mess passed for Kylo Ren’s hair. It turned his stomach to imagine General Hux’s flush pink lips pressed against Kylo Ren’s hideous maw—or perhaps against _other places_.

It was his duty, Doph decided, fighting down bile. His duty as a First Order officer, and his duty as a sentient being with a modicum of decency. He had to save General Hux.

But how? Supreme Leader Snoke could end this unholy tryst instantly, of course, but Doph had no access to the leader. Even if he did, why would Leader Snoke listen to a lieutenant? It was highly probable that Snoke was aware of the situation, and he’d done nothing about it so far. No, best if Doph not involve him at all.

(This was not treason. Supreme Leader’s lack of interference did not necessarily imply approval of the… _relationship_. The leader might simply not care one way or the other. Doph would labor under this perfectly reasonable assumption.)

Captain Phasma had access to both Ren and Hux, but it was unclear whether or not she would cooperate. She was a loyal officer whose ultimate goal was the betterment of the order, the same as Doph. But based on Unamo’s stories, it seemed Phasma also had a wicked sense of humor, and she might throw a hydrospanner into the works for her own amusement. Doph would find no help there either.

It appeared that on this most important mission, Doph was completely alone.

But he was a capable officer, top of his class. He could do this.

~

“General Hux.”

Doph fought not to look up from his workstation. Did Kylo Ren’s voice sound lower than usual? Growlier? He wasn’t sure.

“Yes, Ren?”

“I need to speak with you.”

“I am on duty. We can speak here.”

“No. We can’t.”

Doph risked a glance at his general just as Hux’s tongue darted out to wet his lips. He almost missed Hux’s cheek twitching. “May I ask what this is concerning?”

Ren loomed as much as it was possible to loom over a man so close to his towering height. “Your message.”

The words wrung Doph’s gut out like a mechanic’s rag and then dropped it into a deep freeze. He lowered his eyes to his console in the most leisurely, casual way he could manage.

“What message?” Hux asked.

Ren let out a snarl, which was not a sound Doph had ever heard him make before, and not one he particularly wanted to hear ever again. “Games are beneath you, General.”

Doph could hear the frown in Hux’s voice. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Ren.”

“ _This_ ,” Ren hissed through his vocoder, and then, emperor’s bones, he was digging the datacard out of his voluminous robes and jamming it into the nearest holoprojector.

It was masterful work, compiling and splicing together separate audio and video from hundreds of archived holos. It might be Doph’s finest achievement, not that he could ever take credit. Credit was, in fact, the very last thing he wanted, and seeing the doctored hologram of General Hux flicker to life in the middle of the bridge left him so perfectly frozen in terror that he might as well have been encased in carbonite.

“Ren,” holo-Hux intoned, “I don’t want to see you anymore. It’s over.”

The bridge was utterly, painfully silent as the brief holo faded away.

Doph did not want to look. He did _not_. But somehow his eyes darted to Hux anyway.

The general’s lips were twitching, his expression vacillating between rage and amusement. “Ren,” he said finally, “this ridiculous message did not come from me.”

Kylo Ren’s helmet tipped to the side, making him oddly resemble a loth cat. “But that was you.”

“That,” Hux said, irritation creeping into his voice, “was not me. That was some sort of edit.”

“It passed a data fraud scan.”

“…an _impressive_ edit,” Hux amended, and despite himself, warmth blossomed in Doph’s chest. “In any case, Ren, were I to be engaged in some sort of—relationship—with you or any other, and said relationship had run its course, I am not so cowardly as to end it with a holo.”

Kylo Ren stiffened. He was quiet for a moment. Then he yanked the datacard out of the projector and crushed it in his enormous hand. “Of course,” he said. “I apologize, General.”

Hux sighed. “We _could_ have analyzed that,” he said, but he didn’t sound particularly bothered. Doph was halfway through a quiet sigh of relief when suddenly the general’s sharp green eyes turned on him. “Mitaka, I’ll expect a list of names by the end of your shift.”

“N-names?”

Hux frowned. “Possible perpetrators, of course. Such insubordination can’t go unpunished, no matter how harmless it is.”

Doph’s mouth had gone completely dry, but he managed to squeak out, “Yes, sir!”

~

It was for the good of the Order, Doph told himself as he signed off on a report naming an underperforming stormtrooper as the one behind the doctored holo. All for the good of the order.

Fabricating communications between General Hux and Kylo Ren had been a serious miscalculation. It had never occurred to Doph that Ren might argue about a breakup. If the general had told Doph it was over—if the general had ever deigned to look at Doph, to see him as something more than his military achievements or his worth to the Order—Doph would have accepted it without question. He had, in his eagerness to help the general, forgotten that Kylo Ren had no respect for anyone. Not even the man who allowed him into his bed.

After scouring that thought from his mind with a nice long browse of his private collection of official and decidedly unofficial General Hux holos, Doph set to work again. It was time to consider the problem from a different angle. If he couldn’t make Ren remove himself, could he perhaps remove Ren?

~

“It all seems very odd, Ren.” At the sound of his general’s voice issuing around the corner, Doph froze mid-step. “I’ve never even heard of this system.”

“The Empire was very efficient in wiping information related to the Force from any official archive. That’s why you managed to grow up so remarkably ignorant of its ways.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Hux said, his voice incongruously warm.

“I won’t be gone long,” said Kylo Ren. His voice sounded different too. Softer? It occurred to Doph that the dark Force user might not be wearing his mask. This suspicion was immediately confirmed by a distinctly wet sound that made Doph want to retch. It lasted for some time; Doph rode it out bravely, eyes screwed shut against his own imaginings of General Hux’s mouth being violated by Kylo Ren’s tongue.

With one final, squishy _splortch_ , the torture finally ended. “Bring me something back,” Hux said breathily.

“A few skulls?” Ren asked, his voice a low, teasing thrum, and Hux laughed in a way that sounded almost delirious.

There was a rustling sound like clothes brushing together, and then, “Are you sure you don’t need the _Finalizer_?” Hux asked. “More troops?”

“I’m sure.”

“Well. All right. Good luck, Ren.”

“Farewell, General.”

Ren managed one of his characteristic stomping steps before Hux apparently stopped him, perhaps gripping Ren’s monstrous bicep in his slender, delicate fingers. (Doph had seen them ungloved, once. Hux had contacted him via holo in the middle of the night upon receiving last-minute orders. The image of Hux’s slim fingers gracefully adjusting the eyeglasses he never wore in front of his officers would remain etched in Doph’s memory until he died in service to the First Order.)

“Ren, for fuck’s sake, don’t tell me _farewell_ ,” Hux said.

“What should I say, then?” Ren’s grotesquely deep voice sounded…amused.

“Tell me…tell me you’ll see me upon your return.”

That rustling sound again, and then another clearly audible, stomach-turning mash of mouth on mouth. “I’ll see you when I get back, Armitage.”

“Fine. Yes. Good.” Doph wasn’t sure he had ever heard his general sound this flustered before. “See you then, Kylo.”

Doph waited until Kylo Ren had stalked off. Then he continued around the corner to General Hux’s quarters to deliver the morning report.

Things were far, far worse than Doph had imagined. The general had been severely compromised.

Hopefully this would put an end to it.

~

His second plan did not, unfortunately, put an end to it.

Kylo Ren returned rather quickly—and completely unscathed—from what was supposed to be a deadly mission deep in the heart of organized crime territory. Crews found far more luggage and supplies aboard his _Upsilon_ -class shuttle than he’d departed with; Ren ordered the excess sent directly to General Hux’s quarters.

“Ren,” Hux murmured that evening on the bridge, so low Doph had to strain to hear from his console, “I’m speechless. I never expected—”

The Force-user laughed, the sound strange and horrifying through his voice modulator, and said carelessly, “It’s not like I paid for any of it.”

Was _that_ what endeared the hulking beast of a man to General Hux? Had Kylo Ren seduced the general with fancy gifts?

This was not something Doph could ever do. The First Order was not wealthy, and the funds it did have went directly into weapons and training, as they should. No officer’s stipend could support sustained gift-giving. It could not even support a quick hop to another system during shore leave. Doph would happily shower the general with tokens of his affection and whisk him away on luxurious vacations, if only he could. So was that it? Had Hux’s head been turned by Kylo Ren’s abilities as a con man, thief, and grifter?

No. Hux was a man of principle, loyal to the Order. Kylo Ren’s poisonous influence hadn’t yet consumed him. He was still general, still commander, still dedicated to the cause. He had too much integrity to be susceptible to something so base as bribery.

 _What_ , then?

Doph feared that the time to find the answer was growing short.

~

He looked ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

Doph stared at himself in the mirror, frowning. How did Kylo Ren wear this and look imposing? The cowl fell clumsily over Doph’s face; the cape practically swallowed his shoulders; the long, split overtunic flapped inelegantly over his feet; and the ribbed undergarments drooped off what he had heretofore considered perfectly respectable arm and leg muscles. Perhaps if he had a droid take the garments in here and there, make them fit him properly…

But then, of course, he wouldn’t be able to surreptitiously return them to Kylo Ren.

Doph twisted his hands together. He still couldn’t quite believe he had done this—snuck into the laundry facility and stolen a set of Kylo Ren’s clothes. But it was for the good of the Order. For the Order, for his general, Doph could do anything.

Taking a long, slow, deep breath, Doph closed his eyes and went over the plan again in his mind. He would wear these ridiculous robes to General Hux’s office. He would be admonished by the general. He would then politely inquire as to why it was all right for Kylo Ren to not wear a uniform. The purpose was simple: to remind General Hux that Kylo Ren was unorthodox, out of bounds, dangerous.

This plan was far less involved than the others. The first had put his multimedia propaganda skills to their greatest test. The second had stretched his counterintelligence muscles to their limits, requiring him to seed misinformation in myriad ways across a variety of channels until Kylo Ren became convinced there was a Sith holocron on a planet controlled by gangsters.

All this third plan required of him was the courage to question General Hux. It was the simplest and most terrifying plan of all.

Doph accessed the ship’s security holos to ensure the path to General Hux’s office was clear. It wouldn’t do to run into anyone, especially since there had been no way for him to replicate Kylo Ren’s mask.

The time he’d chosen was in the middle of a shift, when most officers would be at their stations or settled in elsewhere for leisure. Stormtroopers were unlikely to traverse this part of the ship, so the biggest danger was maintenance crew and droids. Once Doph was satisfied that no one would cross his path, he slipped out of his quarters and hurried through the maze of corridors.

When the hatch to General Hux’s office slid away, it revealed the general sitting at his desk buried in a datapad. “Come in,” he said without raising his eyes. Doph stepped through the doorway and the hatch closed behind him.

“Sir,” Doph said, but Hux still didn’t look up.

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

Doph had thought this plan through carefully, but somehow it had never occurred to him to fabricate a reason for his visit to Hux’s office. He’d rather assumed the general would start in on him for his clothing immediately.

“I wanted to ask you about—that is—er…”

“Spit it out, please; I am on a schedule,” Hux said, not unkindly, eyes fixed on his datapad.

“Um. I wondered if…I might request a day off.” That would get Hux’s attention, surely. Doph had never asked for a day off in his entire military career.

“There was no need to come to me in person for that, Lieutenant. I appreciate the gesture, but you are one of my finest officers. Submit the request and I’ll likely approve it.” Hux tapped the screen of his datapad, frowning. “Was that all?”

“Er. Yes, sir,” Doph said weakly.

“Very well, then. Dismissed.”

There was a long moment in which Doph considered shouting at General Hux to look at him, but during that long moment another feeling began creeping in: the feeling that this had all been a terrible mistake, and he was being given the opportunity to escape, and he should take it.

Doph turned.

And froze.

“I’m interested in the explanation behind your attire,” drawled Kylo Ren, who was leaning on the wall next to the hatch, arms crossed. How had Doph not seen him there when he came in? “And I’m sure you’re eager to share it.”

Doph glanced over his shoulder at Hux, who was _still_ embedded in his work, not paying any apparent attention at all. “Um,” he said, turning back toward the Dark Side acolyte, who had pushed himself off the wall and come to stand very, very close. Doph had to tip his head back to see Ren’s helmet; the hood fell off Doph’s head, mussing his hair. “I wanted…to try something different?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Ren said, his modulated voice crackling with something approaching humor.

“Ah,” Doph answered, but no more words came out.

“You’ve been playing rather elaborate pranks on me, Lieutenant,” Kylo Ren said. “That fake holo. The false intel leading to a den of thieves rather than a Sith artifact. And now there’s this…though, seeing as you not only stole my clothes but then wore them for a meeting with General Hux, perhaps these pranks were meant to pester both of us.”

 _Pester_. Kylo Ren considered a death trap that would have eliminated anyone else on this ship nothing more than an inconvenience. Doph wondered if he should be thankful.

“Is there something you get out of this insubordination?” Ren asked, looming even closer, such that Doph could feel his own breath puffing against Ren’s mask. “Some cheap thrill?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Then whatever is the purpose?” Hux finally spoke up, sounding tired. “As I said, you are one of my finest officers, but this behavior is extremely unbecoming.”

“It was for the good of the Order!” Doph squeaked, cowering under the empty stare of Kylo Ren’s mask.

Ren raised a hand toward Doph’s face. “General?”

“Ren, I don’t want you scrambling his brains. If he’s salvageable as an officer I need them intact.”

“As you wish.” Doph let out a weak sigh as Ren lowered his hand, but his relief was short lived. “There are other methods of persuasion,” Ren said ominously.

“I’m sorry!” Doph piped up. “I’m sorry! I was trying to—” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I was trying to end your romantic affair, please don’t kill me, it was for the good of the Order!”

For a long moment silence permeated the office, so thick it felt like Doph was suffocating. Finally, Hux let out a rueful laugh. “Does _everyone_ know about us?” he asked.

“Yes!” Doph squeaked without thinking.

“I told you,” Ren said.

Hux sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Well, so much for subterfuge. Lieutenant, your concern is appreciated, but—”

“I disagree,” Ren cut in, and suddenly Doph’s limbs were locked in place. He couldn’t move. His body rose off the floor, and he felt Kylo Ren gazing at him through that expressionless mask. Doph stared at Kylo Ren’s hand as it stretched out toward him, holding him in place in midair. The Force-user’s head was cocked to the side in a way that didn’t look curious this time, but dangerous. “Your concern is _not_ appreciated,” Ren rumbled. “Your interference is unwelcome. You are a nuisance.”

“Ren,” Hux said. It sounded like it should have been a warning, but there was some other emotion underlying the word.

“General,” Ren replied, a smirk in his voice. He waved his hand, and Doph’s eyes rolled back in his head as his body bobbed up and down.

“Ren,” Hux said again, voice cracking. “This is highly inappropriate.”

“What’s inappropriate?” Ren said, turning to face the general, and it sounded inexplicably like he was grinning. “This man is under my command. I am teaching him a lesson.”

“You—I— _you know why_ ,” Hux huffed out, sounding frustrated in a way that Doph couldn’t quite place. He was, of course, trying not to panic over his entire body being at the mercy of an unstable Force monster, so perhaps his brief inability to parse his general’s emotions could be forgiven.

Ren turned back toward Doph. “Stay out of our business,” he warned, punctuating each word with a jerk of his hand that shook Doph’s entire body. “I won’t forgive another intrusion.”

“Y-yes, sir,” Doph whispered.

Ren swept his hand toward the door, opening the hatch with the Force and floating Doph straight through it. As he lowered his hand, allowing Doph’s feet to mercifully once again touch durasteel, Ren stalked menacingly forward, his massive form filling the doorway. Doph still couldn’t move.

“I don’t need to probe your mind to see what you want,” Ren hissed lowly through his voice modulator. “Your pathetic desire for General Hux is impossible to ignore.”

Doph gaped at Ren in terror.

“He likes you,” Ren continued, and Doph’s heart suddenly soared, “as an officer,” and it fell back down again, settling somewhere near his stomach. “But you are not irreplaceable. You are a commodity to him. You can’t give him what I can.”

Doph desperately wanted to ask what that was, but he also desperately wanted to live.

“You can burn those,” Ren said, nodding to the clothes Doph had borrowed. Then he dropped his arm, and Doph could move again. Ren turned his back to Doph, and Doph took the hint and fled down the corridor.

“General,” he heard Ren’s voice purr behind him, and then there was an odd sound, like Hux had leapt out of his chair and sent it flying into the wall. “Were you jealous?”

“ _Ah_ ,” Hux gasped in what sounded like ecstasy, and then the hatch slammed shut.


End file.
